BIRD CHATTER POST - TOO LOUD? - A BIT GOSSIPY THESE BIRDS

 

That's how it goes on a Saturday Morning at the Bird Bowl, I mean Bird Feeder. A bit of a moan-y one, but I think next week they will get a welcome surprise.

Have a great weekend everyone. 

Thanks for flying by.

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRDFEEDER 12-21-24

 

Rudolph's cousin said he didn't think Camera Lady could put anything else on here, but all the birds cried in unison, "Wanna bet?" and then the stockings arrived.

And so it goes on a Saturday Morning at the Birdfeeder.

Thanks for stopping by everyone, and I hope all your preparations are going well.

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER - A RANDOM THOUGHT

 

GOLDFINCH AT THE WATERBATH

 Goldfinches have become regular visitors to our home.  They only started arriving about three years ago.  I was very happy when I spotted one the other day, and slowly he brought all his family with him.

Even though I haven't been feeding them during the hot summer months when nature's food is plentiful and when bears, raccoons and foxes are out and about (no sightings of bears in the neighborhood this year so far), there is always refreshing water in the birdbath.  The shower feature came with the kit and is solar powered.  When the sun beats down, the water shoots up two feet or more.  Not so much with the oncoming shade.  I took the photos through the glass of the patio door.  Our little friend didn't stay for long, but I was happy with a few photos.

More information on the Goldfinch at this link.

The flowers you see in the background are in one of two planters we purchased a few weeks ago.  I will take proper photos of those when the deck is tidied up.  We have some work to do and as soon as it is done, I will share them.

The water fountain is very popular with the birds.  It's fun to see them enjoy it on these hot days.  

I hope your day is a great one, 

and thanks for stopping by.

MORE OF THE BIRDS OUT BACK

A male House Finch.  He is in the tree that we had to cut down (these are from a while back).  You can  read very interesting facts about House Finches at this website.  One of facts I read was: 

"Once limited to the Western United States and Mexico, House Finches are now found from coast to coast, and as far north as southern Canada. In 1939 a few of the birds, originally captured in Santa Barbara, California, were set free on New York’s Long Island by a pet store owner. By the early 1940s wild nests were beginning to show up in Long Island, and from there the spread continued.

 "They’ve also been introduced and become widespread in Hawaii. In some places, House Finches are considered an invasive species. They act as a vector for disease and compete for food and territory against native birds like Purple Finches - a species they are sometimes confused with since males share reddish plumage."  This website shows how to tell them apart.  

It's a sad state of affairs to take animals and birds out of their own natural habitat, and placed in areas where they should not be, for them and for the native species that are devastated, and in many cases made extinct by the introduced non-native species.

Case in point, here and you will read how the pythons became prolific in the Everglades (Florida). 

One of my favorite birds around here is the Tufted Titmouse.  I love their sweet song.   I have a pair that visit every day.  They flit around so much that it's hard to get them in the same picture, but my reflexes must have been faster than usual this day.  They fly down, grab a seed and immediately take it back to a tree branch to eat.  They are one of just a few perching birds that can use their feet to hold seeds while breaking them open.  

I think our next feathered friend is a female Cowbird.  They don't build their own nests or tend to their young.  Instead, they lay their eggs in the nest of other birds, such as the chipping sparrow, destroying the eggs that were there before.  These adoptive birds hatch the cowbird eggs and also feed them until they can take care of themselves, and the parents don't realize that they are feeding a tiny cowbird.  As much as I would like to think so, it's not all rosy in nature.

Next is a female Red-bellied Woodpecker.  This website has photos of male and female.  Females don't have quite as much red on their heads as a male, but you will see the difference by the photos at the link I have added above. These woodpeckers often create "caches" of food by drumming rows of small holes and wedging a single nut or seed into each one.  We had a tree in our yard with a thousand such holes on its trunk, and often watched the woodpeckers hard at work creating these holes.  How does it not get a headache or concuss itself?  I found another website that tells us.  It says, "The secret lies in the construction of the woodpecker's head and neck. A pad of soft tissue located between the bird's beak and skull absorbs most of the shock of each blow. The woodpecker's brain almost fills the skull cavity, which minimizes jostling. The brain is further stabilized by a strong muscle that runs down the sides of the neck and up the back of the skull."  Fascinating!

The Northern Cardinals I have shared many times before and they are in the garden all year round. Did you know that Cardinals get their red feathers from food?  While female cardinals are light brown, the red pigment in the male cardinal's feathers come from carotenoids in their food.  If these pigment-triggering foods are in short supply, their feathers may fade to a more brownish tone.  I read my facts here, and there is more information which is interesting.

The American Goldfinches have started visiting again. This one seems to have gone through its molting process, as the others looked a bit bedraggled and patchy.  The American Goldfinch is the only finch species that molt twice a year. The first time is in the spring when the males get their bright yellow feathers, and the second is at the end of summer when the darker feathers grow in.   Compared to other native North American birds, Goldfinches are late breeders. The birds wait to start building nests until late June and early July when the thistle and milkweeds are going to seed. The small birds like to use the seeds in their nests, and also as a nearby food source for their young.  While some other bird species are omnivores, Goldfinches are avid vegetarians. The only time the birds stray from their vegetarian diet is when they accidentally swallow a small insect. 

We get many birds visiting us in our area, various Sparrows and Robins, Downy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpecker, one time a Pileated Woodpecker, Wrens, the Cardinals, Black-capped Chickadees, the Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Grackles, Starlings, Crows and the occasional Red-wing Blackbird, and Hawk. Apart from the Hawk landing on our deck rail a few weeks ago, I remember others in past years and once a pair, parent and child, could be seen at the top of the tallest tree.  I love seeing them but have to admit, I am ambivalent.  I wanted them to hang around to observe and yet wanted them to move on also.  The smaller birds seem to know they are there as they disappear for a while, and I have never seen anything distressing.  I also don't replenish the seed until I know the hawks have moved on.   

When the Starlings arrive, there are usually over a dozen at a time.  They fight for their place at the feeders and gobble up all the birdseed.   

In the winter we get a lot of Grey-slated Junco's but when the warmer weather arrives they migrate north.  That seems to happen at the end of March, beginning of April.  They have done this every year since we have lived in our home.  

It has been 33 years since we moved from California.  We rented for 12 months in the next town.  It gave us the opportunity to look for areas in which we would like to settle, paying particular attention to schools.  Our son was ten years’ old at the time.  It also took us about a year to sell our home in California, which was located on the outskirts of San Diego.

Getting back to our birds, I enjoy the activity in the garden and am always looking for a new feathered friend to land here, one that I haven't seen before.  I spotted a Northern Flicker last week but sadly it was a one stop.  Maybe it will be back.  Of course, there are the Squirrels and a now rare sighting of a Chipmunk, and the occasional Raccoon.  I haven't seen one of those for a couple of months or more.  I don't encourage them and have mentioned this before.  We have a lot of young children in our neighborhood and though raccoons usually come out at night, you just never know.  We also have a lot of pets in the area.  

There are fox sightings each year and we used to get a few deer wondering through the neighborhood, but not for a long time.   

No bears yet. I have never seen one myself but when one wanders through the neighborhood, I can read about it on our neighborhood app, with the occasional photo at a bird feeder.  They are still hibernating.  However, I only learned recently that they occasionally come out of their dens in the wintertime.  I did not know that.

So, some happy and sad things about nature in my post today.  I hope you have found it interesting.  I know I tend to ramble on about things that interest me, hence the name of my blog!  I also tend to reread my posts for refreshers on topics learned which I may forget.

Okay, I think I have rambled on long enough.

SATURDAY MORNING AT THE BIRD FEEDER

 

THIS AND THAT...

I have just eaten breakfast.  On a weekday I usually have a bowl of steel cut oatmeal, with a tablespoon of dried chopped dates, a tablespoon of chopped pecans or walnuts, sliced banana (not this morning as I need to buy them on the next shopping trip), or another piece of fruit, and topped with half a cup of oat milk.  On the weekends we splurge a little.  Something with eggs (poached eggs on toast is a favorite with both of us). What's your favorite breakfast?  I am always looking for ideas.  Do you have time for breakfast?   Many of us are so busy that it's hard to fit it in.  

I had a lot of photos in our camera that I hadn't downloaded in a while.  These photos are a variety over the last couple of months. 

This Turkey Vulture was at Green Spring Gardens at the beginning of December.  Gregg took the photo.   I liked the dark contrast of the bird with that pretty blue sky.Another of his when it got very breezy, and the leaves were falling like rain.  

It was beautiful!  And some of the leaves were the size of dinner plates. 

Gregg's foot is next to a magnolia leaf.

Gregg likes to take candid photos.  Here's one of me walking up the hill.  We only visited the pond that day.

I took the photos in the squirrel collage with our other camera, not the trail cam.  I thought you might like to see the one I use (below).  I get a lot of enjoyment out of it and position it where I put the seeds.  You can see it on Amazon here. There are many to choose from, depending on what you are looking for.  

Added note: Ginny's of Let Your Light Shine told me in her comment that this camera is no longer showing.  Thankfully there are many others to choose from.  Thank you for letting me know Ginny!

Lately I have been thinking of buying an additional cam, to put on one of the trees on ground level, to see what night animals we might get.  I was toying with the idea of getting one with a wifi.  The cam I have now is described as: "Flagpower Trail Camera 16MP 1080P Hunting Game Camera with Night Vision Motion Activated IP66 Waterproof 120 Detecting Range Motion Activated Night Vision 2.4" LCD IR LEDs 32 GB Memory Card."

Everything stops for birds.  Whatever I might be doing inside, when I see furry or feathered friends, I stop and grab the camera.  By the time I'm finished I have forgotten what I was doing originally, and usually put the kettle on for a cup of tea.  I sit down and watch the birds for a while, and after I have finished with my tea, I remember what I was doing and start again from there.  This is how she rolls these days!  I have about ten cups of tea during the afternoon and yes, I am joking.  Above you can see two Goldfinches and a house finch.  These were taken when the weather was warmer a couple of months back.

A few weeks' ago, my sister-in-law let us know that the International Space Station would be doing a pass over the East Coast.  I didn't think I had a hope of seeing it, my eyes not being very sharp, but I said why not?  The weather cooperated and the skies were clear.  I strained my eyes and after seeing some dots said, well, maybe that was it!  But truthfully there were so many planes coming into Washington-Dulles Airport, it's anyone's guess.  I did take a moon shot which came out so-so, a bit washed out.  I am always very impressed with Ginny's Let Your Light Shine moonshots, and a week later I took another that pleased me more.  This was on a different night, and the stars were aligned, so the old saying goes.  I should get more practice when the moon is fuller.  I used the one below for my post yesterday, with the saying.

The next photo is of a male Downy Woodpecker that stayed on one of the rails out back, in that position, for 10 minutes.  My thought was that there may have been a hawk flying around.  There were no smaller birds in sight.  I haven't actually seen a hawk in months.  

The other thing that has been happening around here in bird-land, is that the Mourning Doves have been flying into the patio door window.  This is a new thing.  All bounced back off in flight and none landed on the deck.  At first I couldn't figure out what the marks were on the glass.  When I looked closer, I could see the outline of a few feathers on each side where a bird's wings would have been, their oils had transferred.  I washed the window and the next day there was the same outline.  When I was sitting in my spot looking at the doves lined up on the deck, I actually saw one fly towards the glass with a bit of a thump, but it flew off again immediately and didn't seem the worse for wear.  I also put a small Christmas tree next to the door.  Could they try to be landing in that?  I suppose anything is possible!  There are decals on the shopping list!

That's it for today's post and thanks so much for stopping by.  Enjoy your day! 

A FEW SUMMERS AGO...

 when I saw Goldfinches back at our feeders.  It had been a long time since I had seen them, several years in fact.  I would see them at other places in the area but not in the garden.  

This sock is full of thistle seed and even though I have used them before, this one has been the most popular one ever.   So here you go, all the goings on in our back garden.

Way too fuzzy but I cropped the photo from above.  I cropped quite a few of these shots.

It seemed to be that there was a lot of territorial claiming at first.  Now I only see a single pair at the feeder.

This male house finch came one time, I haven't seen him back.

I enjoyed sharing these again and if you remember them I hope you will feel the same way.

I will have more of my sister-in-law's birds to share soon, but I have used my computer sparingly these last few days, and have not had the time to do a decent post.  

Thank you for stopping by 

and enjoy the rest of your week.